MESSAGE 


OF 


Governor  James  B.  Orman 


TO  THE 


Thirteenth  General  Assembly 

In  Special  Session  Assembled 


1902 


DEN'.  v.r><> 

ME    PRINTERS 


MESSAGE 


OF 


Governor  James  B.  Orman 


TO  THE 


Thirteenth  General  Assembly 

In  Special  Session  Assembled 


1902 


DENVER.  COLORADO 

THE  SMITH-BROOKS   PKINTING   COMPANY.   STATE    PRINTERS 
1902 


F773 

.•2, 


i 
Bancroft  Library 


MESSAGE 


OF 


Governor  James  B.  Orman 

TO  THE 

Thirteenth  General  Assembly 

In  Special  Session  Assembled 


It  was  with  a  feeling  of  great  regret  and  reluc- 
tance that  I  was  compelled  to  call  the  legislature  to- 
gether at  this  time  for  the  purpose  of  enacting  special 
legislation.  It  was  not  through  any  sense  of  fear 
but  what  the  subject-matter  for  legislation  would  be 
capably  and  efficiently  administered  at  your  hands, 
but  because  of  the  fact  that  I  know  many,  if  not  all, 
of  you  have  been  compelled  to  make  great  sacrifices 
in  order  to  be  present  at  this  session,  and  for  the 
further  reason  that  extraordinary  sessions  of  the 
legislature  are  never  popular  with  the  people,  no  mat- 
ter for  what  causes  called.  For  these  reasons  I  de- 
plore the  situation  in  which  we  are  now  placed,  all 
<>f  which  has  been  brought  about  by  a  combination 
of  circumstances  against  which  the  administration 

persistently  endeavored  to  enforce  the  provisions 


4  MESSAGE   TO   SPECIAL   SESSION, 

of  the  revenue  law  without  the  necessity  of  an  extra 
session. 

I  have  not  called  this  assembly  together  until 
after  having  exhausted  all  practical  and  reasonable 
resources  at  my  command,  and  not  before  having 
ascertained  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  Su- 
preme Court  to  act  in  the  matter  until  it  would  be  so 
late  in  the  season  that  it  would  be  an  added  hardship 
upon  the  members  of  the  legislature  to  attend ;  there- 
fore I  had  no  expedient  left  save  in  the  calling  of  the 
legislature  together  to  enact  such  laws  as  will  best 
conserve  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people,  un- 
trammeled  by  the  crushing  heel  of  the  great  corpora- 
tions, and  I  feel  that  I  would  indeed  have  been  derelict 
in  my  duty  to  the  people  had  I  wantonly  abandoned 
the  revenue  law  enacted  by  this  assembly  and  have 
allowed  the  general  derangement  of  the  affairs  of 
state  to  stand  in  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been 
placed  by  the  actions  of  the  railroad  and  other  corpo- 
rations. 

Knowing  that  you  have  kept  in  close  touch  with 
the  situation,  and  that  you  are  perfectly  qualified  to 
cope  with  it  in  all  its  different  phases,  whatever  re- 
marks I  have  to  make  will  be  brief,  and  whatever 
recommendations  I  have  to  make  will  be  made  with 
the  sincere  hope  that  they  will  aid  you  in  arriving  at 
a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  difficulty  in  which  we 
now  find  ourselves.  You  have  shown  in  times  past 
that  you  were  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  subject 
with  which  you  have  to  deal.  You  are  the  representa- 
tives of  the  will  of  the  people,  you  express  their  de- 
sires, and  to  you  they  have  delegated  the  proper  appli- 
cation of  their  supreme  powers. 


<;OVI:K\OK  .JAMKS  it.  UKMAN.  5 

To  refresh  your  memory,  and  in  order  that  you 
nuiy  be  fully  cognizant  of  all  the  steps  that  have  been 
taken  in  the  matter  of  the  litigation  growing  out  of 
the  revenue  law,  and  the  consequent  perplexity  aris- 
ing therefrom,  I  will  give  you  a  resume  of  the  cases, 
and  will  endeavor  io  place  the  matter  before  you  as 
succinctly  as  possible. 

During  the  latter  part  of  June  the  railroad  and 
other  corporations  interested  brought  a  proceeding 
in  mandamus,  in  the  District  Court  of  Pueblo  county, 
to  compel  the  state  board  of  equalization  to  perform 
certain  duties  devolving  upon  it  by  statutes  previously 
in  force  and  effect,  which  statutes  were  explicitly  re- 
pealed by  the  revenue  law  of  1901,  setting  up  that  the 
law  of  1901  was  unconstitutional  and  void.  To  this 
application  for  a  writ  of  mandamus  the  state  asked 
for  a  change  of  venue,  which  the  court  denied.  Upon 
the  trial  of  the  cause  the  court  declared  the  law  to 
be  unconstitutional  and  void,  to  which  judgment  the 
state  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  state,  and 
a  supersedeas  was  granted  the  state  by  said  court. 
This  cause  is  now  pending  in  the  court  for  determi- 
nation. 

When  the  writ  of  error  was  sued  out  of  the  Dis- 
trict  Court  of  Pueblo  county  and  lodged  in  the  Su- 
preme Court,  the  state  had  a  direct  understanding 
with  the  attorneys  representing  the  litigating  corpo- 
rations, that  every  effort  would  be  made  on  their  part 
to  have  this  case  determined  with  as  little  delay  as 
possible.  With  this  understanding,  the  state  prepared 
its  ease  for  presentation  and  adjudication,  and  it  then 
transpired  that  the  corporation  attorneys  had  no  in- 
tention of  keeping  their  part  of  the  agreement,  and. 


6  MESSAGE   TO   SPECIAL   SESSION, 

instead  of  doing  as  they  had  agreed  to  do,  were  plac- 
ing every  obstacle  in  their  power  in  the  way  of  a 
speedy  determination. 

In  the  meantime,  the  corporations  again  went  be- 
fore the  District  Court  of  Pueblo  county  and  prayed 
for  an  injunction  restraining  the  state  board  of  asses- 
sors from  proceeding  with  the  performance  of  its  duty 
as  prescribed  by  the  law  of  1901.  Again  the  state 
moved  for  a  change  of  venue  on  the  ground  that  the 
court  did  not  have  jurisdiction,  and  for  other  reasons, 
but  the  state,  finding  that  there  was  liable  to  be  con- 
siderable delay  in  having  this  motion  passed  upon, 
applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  a  writ  of  prohibi- 
tion restraining  Judge  Dixon  from  proceeding  farther 
in  the  matter,  which  application  was  granted  by  the 
Supreme  Court.  However,  the  state  board  of  asses- 
sors, believing  that  the  District  Court  did  not  have 
jurisdiction  to  restrain  it  from  performing  its  execu- 
tive duties,  went  ahead  and  certified  out  the  assess- 
ment. Then  the  corporations  immediately  asked  that 
contempt  proceedings  be  instituted  against  the  board, 
its  secretary  and  the  attorney-general,  and  upon  a 
final  hearing  in  that  matter  the  court  discharged  the 
board,  its  secretary  and  the  attorney-general,  but  de- 
clared the  certification  of  the  assessment  which  had 
been  made  by  the  board,  null,  and  required  its  re- 
turn. Then,  before  the  board  could  meet  to  re-certify 
out  the  assessment,  and,  in  fact,  almost  before  the 
Supreme  Court  was  through  announcing  its  opinion 
in  the  contempt  proceedings,  the  corporations  ap- 
peared before  the  United  States  District  Court  and 
obtained  an  order  from  that  court  restraining  the 
board  of  assessors  from  performing  its  plain  duty. 


GOVERNOR   .JAMES   15.    OR.MAX.  < 

Upon  the  hearing  Judge  Riner,  who  had  been  called 
in  to  hear  the  case,  held  that  the  state  board  of  asses- 
sors was  an  unconstitutional  board,  and  from  his  deci- 
sion the  state  has  taken  an  appeal  to  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  at  St.  Louis. 

After  the  decision  of  Judge  Riner,  holding  that 
the  provisions  of  the  revenue  law  providing  for  a  state 
board  of  assessors  was  in  contravention  to  the  Consti- 
tution, the  state  board  of  equalization  met  and  in- 
structed the  attorney-general  to  withdraw  the  writ  of 
supersedeas  in  the  mandamus  case,  and  that  board  is 
now  proceeding  to  make  the  assessment  on  corporate 
property.  This,  in  brief,  is  the  status  of  the  litigation 
up  to  the  present  time. 

The  Thirteenth  General  Assembly  enacted  a  law 
which,  in  its  operations,  was  the  wisest,  most  efficient 
and  effective  revenue  law  that  has  yet  been  provided 
for  the  collection  of  the  revenues  of  the  state.  It  was 
a  law  that  appealed  to  the  people,  irrespective  of 
party,  by  its  equity  and  impartiality.  Under  its  pro- 
visions all  persons  and  all  corporations  were  treated' 
alike;  none  received  benefits  and  privileges  that  were 
not  accorded  to  all.  It  was  a  law  that  was  demanded 
by  the  people,  by  the  business  interests,  by  the  edu- 
cational interests  and  by  the  charitable  interests  of 
the  state.  ***,  ^^^^ 

This  law  has  been  rutlilesslyaftacked  in  the 
courts  by  the  corporations,  and  the  hands  of  the 
administrators  of  the  affairs  of  state  have  been  so 
effectively  tied  that  they  are  unable  to  proceed  with 
the  collection  of  the  revenues  necessary  to  conduct  our 
institutions  of  learning,  our  great  bulwarks  of  Ameri- 


8  MESSAGE   TO   SPECIAL   SESSION, 

can  citizenship  and  freedom.  Our  penal  and  chari- 
table institutions  are  now  suffering  for  the  want  of 
funds  with  which  to  properly  conduct  them. 

While  we  do  not  for  a  moment  contend  that  the 
corporations  do  not  at  all  times  have  a  perfect  right 
and  privilege  to  test  the  constitutionality  and  validit}^ 
of  a  legislative  enactment,  yet  their  manner  of  pro- 
cedure has  been  such  as  to  delay  the  speedy  determi- 
nation of  the  cause  now  pending  before  the  Supreme 
Court,  until  the  interests  of  the  state  in  the  matter  of 
the  assessment  and  collection  of  taxes  have  become 
seriously  jeopardized.  The  dilatory  tactics  they  have 
pursued  is  more  than  convincing  that  they  are  en- 
deavoring to  escape  their  just  proportion  of  taxation. 

Since  the  passage  of  the  law  we  have  had  ample 
opportunity  afforded  us  to  determine  its  practical  ef- 
fectiveness. It  may  be  that  there  are  some  provisions 
contained  therein  that  can  be  improved  upon,  which 
will  add  very  materially  to  its  efficiency.  As  a  whole, 
the  law  is  most  satisfactory,  and  I  have  but  one  recom- 
mendation in  the  way  of  a  change  to  make,  and  that 
is  the  provision  providing  for  the  assessment  of  min- 
ing property,  whether  producing  or  non-producing. 
It  seems  to  me  as  though,  when  the  assessing  powers  of 
the  state  are  required  to  list  and  value  the  other  prop- 
erty of  the  state  at  full  cash  value,  that  legislation 
of  this  kind,  where  the  assessor  is  compelled  to  take 
one-fourth  of  the  gross  output  for  the  year  previous 
as  the  value  of  the  property,  that  it  certainly  is  class 
legislation.  It  is  also  provided  "that  nothing  in  this 
act  contained  shall  be  construed  as  giving  the  assessor 
any  right  to  assess  a  non-producing  mining  claim  at 
a  greater  sum  per  acre  than  is  assessed  per  acre 


GOVERNOR  JAMES  B.   ORMAN.  9 

against  the  lowest  producing  mine,  or  mining  claim, 
si i  lifted  in  ihe  same  locality,"  thus  taking  away  the 
aulhority  of  the  assessor  to  use  his  own  judgment  and 
disci-el  ion  as  to  its  real  and  true  value.  It  may  be  that 
such  non-producing  claim  may  be  actually  worth  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  dollars,  yet  the  assessor  has 
no  authority  whatever  to  assess  it  at  its  true  worth, 
being  compelled  to  place  an  assessment  upon  it  of  not 
more  than  that  placed  on  the  lowest  producing  claim 
01-  mine  in  the  same  locality.  It  does  not  appear  to  me 
that  this  is  just  or  right,  and  I  earnestly  recommend 
Hi  is  feature  to  the  assembly  with  the  hope  that  it  may 
receive  your  thoughtful  attention  and  such  remedy  as 
may  suggest  itself  to  you  as  being  just  and  fair  to  our 
mining  industry. 

Next  to  the  important  duty  of  providing  for  state 
i  e\  enues  is  the  necessity  of  providing  the  proper  pro- 
tect ion  to  that  large  class  of  our  citizens  who  are  com- 
pelled to  undergo  dangers  and  hazards  in  the  perforin- 
ance  of  their  duties.  They  should  hav.e  ample  protec- 
tion afforded  them  in  a  proper  liability  bill  against 
the  negligence  they  are  powerless  to  prevent  and  of 
which  they  have  no  knowledge  until  overtaken  by  some 
accident,  and  I  trust  that  the  senate  will,  as  speedily 
as  possible,  remove  the  cloud  that  now  hangs  over  the 
employers'  liability  bill,  passed  by  the  Thirteenth  Gen- 
eral Assembly. 

The  people  of  the  western  slope  are  vitally  inter- 
ested in  the  construction  and  completion  of  State  Ca- 
nal No.  3.  The  completion  of  this  canal  will  add  many 
I'caui  ii'nl  homes  and  prosperous  citizens  to  our  fair 
>iaic,  and  I  commend  to  you  such  liberty  of  judgment 
and  adion  as  \\i!l  enable  those  who  have  this  work 


10  MESSAGE   TO   SPECIAL   SESSION, 

in  charge  to  complete  their  work  at  the  earliest  date 
practicable. 

As  citizens  of  the  state  of  Colorado  we  all  take 
great  interest  and  pride  in  the  World's  Fair  to  be  held 
in  St.  Louis  in  1903,  to  commemorate  the  Louisiana 
Purchase,  of  which  Colorado  formed  a  part.  It  is  the 
desire  that  this  state  shall  make  an  exhibit  which  shall 
surpass  that  of  any  of  our  sister  states.  Our  natural 
resources  are  such  as  to  enable  us  to  make  a  most 
gratifying  exhibit,  and  one  that  will  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  investor^  of  capital,  eventually  adding  greatly 
to  our  material  welfare.  Through  some  inadvertence 
the  legislature,  in  passing  a  liberal  appropriation  for 
the  purpose  of  making  this  exhibit,  enacted  that  the 
funds  should  be  paid  out  by  the  treasurer  on  vouchers 
drawn  upon  him.  This  provision  is  in  direct  violation 
of  the  Constitution,  which  provides  that  no  money 
shall  be  paid  out  of  the  state  treasury  except  on  war- 
rants drawn  by  the  auditor.  The  manner  of  making 
this  payment  has  caused  the  commission  a  great  deal 
of  trouble  and  perplexity,  and  has  very  materially 
hampered  it  in  its  work,  and  I  trust  that  this  special 
session  of  the  legislature  will  so  amend  the  act  that 
the  auditor  of  state  may  draw  the  warrants  in  the 
usual  and  customary  manner,  thus  avoiding  any  con- 
fusion or  difficulty  in  the  future. 

In  the  matter  of  constitutional  amendments,  1 
bespeak  your  earnest  consideration.  This  is  an  in- 
tricate matter  that  will  require  your  careful  and  seri- 
ous thought.  Should  you  find  that  any  amendment  has 
been  proposed  by  inadvertence,  or  by  reason  of  its 
character  and  effect  not  being  fully  apparent  at  the 
time  of  its  passage,  it  should  be  repealed.  However,  I 


GOVERNOR  JAMES  B.  OUMAN.  11 

am  strongly  convinced  that  the  people  of  this  state 
are  able  to  handle  the  fundamental  law  of  the  state 
in  a  most  satisfactory  and  intelligent  manner,  and 
that  when  once  committed  to  them  they  will  take  such 
action  upon  it  as  the  best  interests  and  rights  of  the 
people  demand. 

In  regard  to  corporate  legislation,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  whatever  materially  affects  the  inter- 
ests of  the  corporations  correspondingly  affects  the 
welfare  of  the  people  of  the  state;  but  we  must  also 
remember  that  it  is  from  the  state  and  its  resources 
that  they  derive  their  great  wealth  and  power,  and 
that  the  people  should  have  something  to  say  as  to 
how  that  power  is  used  and  that  wealth  acquired.  In 
the  early  days,  when  our  state  was  new,  and  its  de- 
velopment had  not  reached  that  unprecedented  stage 
upon  which  we  now  find  ourselves,  there  may  have 
been  some  necessity  for  charging  high  freight  and  pas- 
senger rates.  But  since  the  state  has  developed,  with 
its  multitudinous  farms,  cities  and  villages,  with  the 
opening  of  new  mines  and  new  industries,  with  an 
enormously  increased  traffic  in  both  freight  and  pas- 
sengers, the  tribute  these  corporations  lay  upon  our 
people  is  indeed  onerous  and  exacting,  and  I  believe 
that  this  session  of  the  legislature  should  take  steps 
to  remedy  this  great  evil,  and  curb,  at  least  to  some 
extent,  the  aggressions  of  our  great  railroad  corpora- 
tions. The  future  prosperity  and  welfare  of  our  peo- 
ple demands  that  this  session  of  the  legislature  t;ik< 
cognizance  of  this  serious  situation  and  that  the  nec- 
essary relief  be  afforded  them. 

However,  the  matter  of  the  greatest  and  utmost 
importance  for  your  attention  is  the  enactment  of  a 


12  MESSAGE   TO   SPECIAL   SESSION, 

revenue  law  that  will  insure  sufficient  revenue  for  the 
necessary  expenses  of  the  state  government  and  of  the 
state  institutions.  This  is  primarily  the  object  in  call- 
ing you  together.  The  state  looks  to  you  for  the 
needed  relief,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the  appeal  will 
be  in  vain.  I  believe  you  will  enact  a  law  that  will  be 
just  and  fair  to  all,  in  the  operation  of  which  no  one 
will  have  just  cause  for  complaint.  I  sincerely  hope 
and  trust  that  as  few  bills  will  be  introduced  as  pos- 
sible, only  such  bills  being  introduced  as  are  actually 
necessary  to  properly  cover  the  matters  mentioned  in 
the  call.  I  also  wish  to  express  the  hope  that  you  will 
complete  the  work  as  speedily  as  possible,  and  with 
as  little  expense  to  the  state  as  may  be.  However,  in 
the  performance  of  your  duty,  I  do  not  desire  such 
expedition  as  will  embarrass  you  in  the  right  perform- 
ance of  your  duty,  or  such  expedition  as  is  inconsis- 
tent with  the  passage  of  carefully  considered  and  abso- 
lutely constitutional  measures.  Do  not  be  turned 
from  the  plain  path  of  your  duty  by  those  who  see  in 
the  assemblage  of  the  people  an  investigation  into  af- 
fairs that  may  disturb  their  particular  monopoly. 

The  calling  of  the  legislature  together  is  a  most 
solemn  occasion.  You  should  not  be  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that,  as  representatives  of  the  people,  great  re- 
sponsibilities rest  upon  you.  The  matters  before  you 
can  not  be  treated  in  a  light  or  frivolous  manner.  I 
believe  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  Thir- 
teenth General  Assembly  is  of  such  a  high  character 
that  it  will  be  enabled  to  comprehensively  grasp  the 
situation  and 'deal  with  it  in  an  equitable  and  un- 
swervable  fairness  to  all  concerned. 


GOVERNOR   J  A  MMS   I',.   OK  MAN.  13 

It  is  your  sworii  duty  to  conscientiously  and  earn- 
est lv  consider  the  matters  herein  presented,  and  give 
heed  to  your  own  consciences  as  to  the  right  and  jus 
tice  of  such  matters;  then  you  will  have  discharged 
your  duty  to  the  state  and  your  constituents. 

JAMES  B.  OKMAX, 

Governor. 

Tuesday,  January  28,  1902. 


Binder 
Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif. 

PAT.  JAN  21.  1908 


